Mobile collapsible carts are well known in this day and age. The mobility requirement is obvious from a study of the application of various mobile carts--shopping carts, laundromat baskets, sidewalk vending carts, etc. Likewise, the folding or collapsing function has been used extensively in mobile carts in order to occupy less space when stored or not in use, as in various designs of grocery carts. Examples of these are Hill, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,168,328 and 3,388,920. Also, a folded cart is more easily transported or carried about, both by hand and by vehicle or other mode of transporting a cart from one location to another.
Other examples of folding, mobile carts are Osier, U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,409, disclosing a cart for use in the masonry trade to support a mortar board; Livingston, U.S. Pat. No. 2,839,310, disclosing a cart adaptable to a variation of supporting and transporting applications; and Sides, U.S. Pat. No. 2,377,815, disclosing a cart adapted to carry a separate shopping basket.
Heretofore, there has been no application of this mobile, folding principle to a cart designed to transport artist's supplies and canvas frames from one location to another, typically from an automobile to a scenic location along the countryside. In order to accomplish this purpose, the artist cart must necessarily be mobile. Also, it must fold into a substantially planar configuration in order to more easily fit into the trunk or behind the seat of an automobile. In so doing, any collapsible artist cart must fold to a convenient shape, being totally self-contained with no awkward extensions or protruding edges that could damage surroundings or be themselves damaged.
Those familiar with everyday problems encountered by an outdoor artist are aware that artist's canvas frames are extremely delicate and must be treated with great care, especially during the transporting thereof. Prior to the invention herein, there has been no safe method by which an artist's canvas frames could be transported about with the artist's other supplies. The artist either had to make two, sometimes lengthy, trips or had to risk damaging his canvas frames in an attempt to carry all of his supplies in one trip. The cart disclosed herein performs this function quickly, easily and safely and all but eliminates the possibility of damage to the canvas frames during the transporting thereof.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile cart for transporting artist's supplies easily from automobile to the site the artist has chosen to paint.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile artist cart that collapses to an essentially planar configuration having no sharp or protruding edges.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a mobile, collapsible artist cart designed to transport canvas frames securely and free from the possibility of rupture or stretching inherent in carrying canvas frames about manually.
In accordance with the invention, a collapsible, mobile artist cart is provided. The cart comprises a frame structure, including upper and lower horizontally disposed support trays. The support trays are interconnected by vertical supports, which pivot relative to the support trays, allowing the frame structure to collapse from its deployed position to a substantially planar configuration for stowing purposes. A handle frame is pivotally mounted to the frame structure in a manner that allows the frame structure to collapse so that the upper and lower support trays, in the planar configuration, "nest" within the essentially linear configuration of the handle frame. The handle frame includes a handle for moving the artist cart about, and also provides stationary feet, enabling the artist cart to sit upright on an essentially horizontal surface. Also included is a set of support wheels by which the mobile art cart may be rolled about.
Means are provided for securely supporting canvas frames during the transporting thereof. This means comprises a set of recesses in corresponding cross members of the support frame for receiving the lower edge of a canvas frame. Sets of rotating arms, pivotally mounted to the handle frame, operate the engage the canvas frame upper edge and retain the canvas frame in its lower recesses as the canvas frame and other artist's supplies are transported about.